James Land, widower, married Rose Anna Beamer, widow, on 19 Apr 1863 at the Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels in Bampton, Devon.
James Land (b. 1828) was the son of John Land, Labourer, and in 1841, aged 13, was in his father's household at Gate Street, West, Bampton. His mother's given name was Loveday, born 1804 in
Rackenford, Devon. I haven't been able to find a record of his parents' marriage, but the only relevant baptism that year in Rackenford, is for a Loveday Flew. If correct, this may be the same Flew family of Rackenford that
Jane Middleton married into.
In 1851, James (23) was still at home, unmarried.
By 1861, James (32) was living as a Lodger in the household of Ann Beamer (38) from Norton, Somerset, along with four of her children: Mary (10),
Alfred (8),
James (6) and Lindy (2). The civil birth registration for James Beamer in 1855, confirms that Rose Anna's maiden name was Smith.
At the time of her marriage to James Land, Rose Anna Beamer had given her father's name as Isaac Smith, Labourer. I've found a record of a baptism on 1 Feb 1824 for a Mary Smith, daughter of Isaac and Hannah Smith at All Saints,
Norton Fitzwarren, who may have been her sister.
James Land, therefore, must have been both married and widowed between the 1851 and 1861 censuses. There is a marriage of a James Land to a Jane Flew in 1854 and the death of a Jane Land, aged 30, in 1856, which, by process of elimination, looks like it might relate. Probably cousins.
Beamer is a surname found in
Clayhanger right back to the 1600s and probably still. In 1851 there was a James Beamer (58), who's a likely in-law.
With a two year old in 1861, one might assume that Rose Anna (Ann) had only recently been widowed, but the only record of a death that may be that of her husband - I haven't been able to find the earlier marriage, but
son Alfred Beamer's marriage gives his father's name as James Beamer - is that for a James Beamer, aged 37, in the last quarter of 1854. That would make James Beamer, born 1855, a
posthumous child. Although, it would also make Lindy Beamer the child of another liaison. Not exactly unheard of.
John and Rose Anna had at least three further children together:
- George Land Beamer born Q4 1862 (died Q1 1863, aged 0)
- Loveday Jane Land born 1864, in Bampton, Devon
- John Land born 3 Feb 1866, in Stoodleigh, Devon
John Land, aged 90, died in 1866. This age would fit with James' father and would explain why he named his son John in the same quarter.
In 1871, in High Street, Bampton, we find James Land (41) and Rosannah (46), with just Loveday J (7) and John (5). Not one of Rose Anna's family are living with their mother. It's not the first time I've seen a first family "disappear" when their parent remarries. Rose Anna's daughter, Mary (b. 1850), I've been unable to find any mention of; Alfred Bimmer (sic) (19) was working as a [Farm] Servant for Thomas Chave in
Morebath; James Beamer (16) Masons Labourer was lodging, with Henry Beamer (21) Ag Lab, elsewhere in Bampton; there are no other records of Lindy Beamer.
In 1881, at Westbrook Cottage, Bampton, at a guess, on
Westbrook Farm (
PDF), were James Land (54) Ag Lab; Ann Land (58); Jane Land (18) Domestic (Out of Service) - just given birth; John Land (16) Gen Labourer; Henry Beames (sic) (8) Grandson and Rosana Land (0) Granddaughter.
James Land died, aged 56, in the first quarter of 1884.
There is a death of a Rose Anne Land in 1889, with her age estimated as 40. This would be a 20 year discrepancy, if typical lie about a woman's age.